Dand.
Since the accession of Gaj Singh, only two years ago,[[17]] Salim Singh has extorted fourteen lakhs (£140,000). Bardhman, a merchant of great wealth and respectability, and whose ancestors are known and respected throughout Rajwara as Sahukars, has been at various times stripped of all his riches by the minister and his father, who, to use the phraseology of the sufferers, “will never be satisfied while a rupee remains in Jaisalmer.”
Establishments, Expenditure.
| Rupees. | |
| Bar[[18]] | 20,000 |
| Rozgar Sardar[[19]] | 40,000 |
| Sihbandis or Mercenaries[[20]] | 75,000 |
| Household horse, 10 elephants, 200 camels, and chariots | 36,000 |
| —-—— | |
| Carry forward | 171,000 |
| Brought forward | 171,000 |
| 500 Bargir[[21]] horse | 60,000 |
| Rani’s or queen’s establishment | 15,000 |
| The wardrobe | 5,000 |
| Gifts | 5,000 |
| The kitchen | 5,000 |
| Guests, in hospitality | 5,000 |
| Feasts, entertainments | 5,000 |
| Annual purchase of horses, camels, oxen, etc. | 20,000 |
| Total | Rs. 291,000 |
The ministers and officers of government receive assignments on the transit-duties, and some have lands. The whole of this State-expenditure was more than covered, in some years, by the transit-duties alone; which have, it is asserted, amounted to the almost incredible sum of three lakhs, or £30,000.
Tribes.
Of its Rajput population, the Bhattis, we have already given an outline in the general essay on the tribes.[[22]] Those which occupy the present limits of Jaisalmer retain their Hindu notions, though with some degree of laxity from their intercourse with the Muhammadans on the northern and western frontiers; while those which long occupied the north-east tracts, towards Phulra and the Gara, on becoming proselytes to Islam ceased to have either interest in or connexion with the parent State. The Bhatti has not, at present, the same martial reputation as the Rathor, Chauhan, or Sesodia, but he is deemed at least to equal if not surpass the Kachhwaha, or any of its kindred branches, Naruka or Shaikhavat. There are occasional instances of Bhatti intrepidity as daring as may be found amongst any other tribe; witness the feud between the chiefs of Pugal and Mandor. But this changes not the national characteristic as conventionally established; though were we to go back to the days of chivalry and Prithiraj, we should select Achalesa Bhatti, one of the bravest of his champions, for the portrait of his race. The Bhatti Rajput, as to physical power, is not perhaps so athletic as the Rathor, or so tall as the Kachhwaha, but generally fairer than either, and possessing those Jewish features which Mr. Elphinstone remarked as characteristic of the Bikaner Rajputs. The Bhatti intermarries with all the families of Rajwara, though seldom with the Ranas of Mewar. The late Jagat Singh of Jaipur had five wives of this stock, and his posthumous son, real or reputed, has a Bhattiani for his mother.[[23]]